KNOXVILLE, TENN. -
Junior forward Ashley Grove scored her third straight game-winning goal to lead the No. 12/14 University of Maryland women's soccer team to a 3-1 victory over Tennessee in the First Tennessee Lady Vol Classic Friday night at Regal Stadium.

"This is a good win on the road in a fun place to play with a great crowd and an electric atmosphere," said Maryland head coach Brian Pensky. "Once again, our players handled it all very well. Tennessee presented plenty of challenges with which we had to deal, and our responses were terrific."

The Terps (3-0-0) drew first blood in the match in the 16th minute when junior Lydia Hastings moved the ball through the middle of the Lady Vol (2-1-0) defense and beat Tennessee goalkeeper Molly Baird for the 1-0 Terrapin lead.

The lead quickly grew to 2-0 two minutes later on Grove's fourth goal of the season. Senior co-captain Caitlin McDowell earned her team-leading fourth assist of the year by sending a cross into the middle of the field where Grove settled it before finishing from 14 yards out.

The Lady Vols would not go down without a fight and capitalized on a corner kick opportunity in the 24th minute to cut the Maryland lead back to one goal. The corner kick led to a flurry of three Tennessee shots that were blocked, but a fourth shot made it through the defense and past Terrapin keeper Yewande Balogun.

The game was a back-and-forth affair for the next 50 minutes of play, but in the 74th minute, junior Jasmyne Spencer scored her first goal of the season to give the Terps an insurance goal and a 3-1 lead. Spencer took a quick pass from junior Sade Ayinde and moved the ball into the left side of the UT box. Shen then got around her defender and finished with a sharp strike inside the far post as Baird tried to come out to cut down the angle.

The Terrapin defense, anchored by the backline of seniors Colleen Deegan and McDowell, junior Mallory Baker and sophomore Megan Gibbons, did a tremendous job of holding the Tennessee offense in check. The Lady Vols managed 11 shots during the match, but only one of those was on goal.

Maryland concludes its trip to Knoxville, Tenn., on Sunday with a 12:30 p.m. match against 2009 Atlantic Sun champion Kennesaw State. The Owls are 2-0-1 on the year after playing Richmond to a 0-0 tie Friday afternoon.

Game Notes:
 Maryland has now won 14 straight matches against non-ACC opponents dating back to 2008.
 The Terps are now 3-0 all-time vs. Tennessee.
 Ashley Grove's goal is the 13th of her career, which ties her for 19th on the school's all-time goals list with Diane Taylor and Nataly Arias.
 Grove now has six game-winning goals for her career, moving her into a six-way tie for eighth on the all-time list.
 Caitlin McDowell's assist gives her 16 for her career, moving her past Leslie Kerhin for sole-possession of eighth place on the all-time assists list.
 Sade Ayinde's assist gives her 12 for her career, tying her with Tania Sheremeta and Terri Rich for 12th place on the all-time assists list.